Super Aurora wrote:What was the change with the portrait pictures galleries? Last time I went on the ride was in second grade (I'm 21 now) and I remember that section have the pics following their eyes at you (creep me out back then). I vaguely remember one portrait being a woman and her cat having their yes follow you (Hers being red and the cat's green) and I believe one guy with heavy bushy beard.
So what was change they did there now?
Also the WDW one is the only one I've been to but I'm told that other than the exterior, the interior ride design is ALSO different. Can anyone tell me or explain to me the differences?
The "Sinister 11" portrait gallery as it was dubbed has now been replaced by the changing portrait gallery. In DL's version of the ride, right after the stretch rooms, is a portrait corridor you walk on the way to your doombuggies. As you walk by, one side of the hall are windows with a lightning storm outside. On the right side are portraits. With each lightning flash, the pictures change (a woman becomes a white tiger, a knight and his horse become skeletons, the Flying Dutchman becomes a ghost ship, and a Grecian maiden becomes a stone Medusa). For the new WDW refurb, the removed the old Sinister 11 staring portraits, and placed copies of the DL changing portraits in their place, complete with the stormy windows. However, unlike at DL, at WDW you now ride by them in your Doom Buggies.
And even though the Sinister 11 portraits are removed from their former gallery, you can find them all around the mansion now in different places. In the Doombuggy loading hallway, on the left wall as you exit the stretch room, you can see the Evil Villager, Jack The Ripper, and Mariner portraits. On the right wall behind the Doom Buggies, are the Hatchet Man, Witch of Walpurgis, Dracula, and Bearded Man portraits. In the first scene in your Doombuggy at WDW, the stairwell, you can see the Eldery Couple and the Widow December portraits there along the stairs. And last but not least, the Opera Glasses Woman (the one you described who is holding a pair of glasses and a cat) can be seen on the wall after you leave the ballroom and head into the attic. The only one of the Sinister 11 that's no longer there is Medusa, which I can see why since she now has her own changing portrait instead.
Here's also the breakdown of the different scenes in each ride version.
DL - Foyer, Stretching Gallery, Portrait Corridor, Loading Area/Limbo, Endless Hallway, Conservatory, Corridor Of Doors, Clock Hall, Seance Circle, Grand Ballroom, Attic, Graveyard, Hitchhikers Crypt, Unloading Area/Crypt, Little Leota
WDW - Foyer, Stretching Gallery, Loading Area/Entrance Hallway, Stairwell, Sinister 11 Gallery (Now Changing Portrait Gallery), Library, Music Parlor, Grand Staircases, Endless Hallway, Conservatory, Corridor Of Doors, Clock Hall, Seance Circle, Grand Ballroom, Attic, Graveyard, Hitchhikers Crypt, Little Leota's Crypt, Unloading Area/ Crypt
These are a breakdown of some of the differences. The WDW Foyer is paneled in dark wood with a fireplace and a portrait of Master Gracey, showing him age from a young man to a skeleton. DL's Foyer is a bit lighter, and has no portrait. DL's Portrait Corridor as I said before, you walk on by foot, past the portraits and windows. Also at the end are the staring busts. WDW, after the stretch room, you just go right to the Doombuggies. DL's loading area is more of a black void-like room, with cobwebs everywhere and large chandeliers and sconces. WDW's loading is more like a grand parlor/hallway with large dark paneling, 7 of the Sinister 11 portraits now there, and cobwebbed urns everywhere. At DL, once you board your doombuggy, you go straight up a staircase and to the endless hallway scene. At WDW though, the first scene you go through is a stairwell, where a candelabra floats by itself at the landing of the top of the stairs. You then pass through the now changing portrait hallway, and into the library. The library are where the staring busts are (WDW has 8 busts to DL's 2), along with effects of a swaying ladder, books shuffling themselves, and a chair rocking by itself. You then go into the music parlor where a piano plays on its own, and the moonlight shines through the window and reveals the shadow of the invisible pianist on the floor. You then go up into the Grand Staircases, a room full of staircases that go up and down and upside down, with ectoplasmic footprints running up and down them and disappearing. (Before the refurb, in this area it used to be just black like DL's loading area, with huge cheesy spiders in their webs). At the top of the staircase landing is then an effect with eyes blinking in the darkness, before they slowly fade into the corridor wallpaper. After that, you then go to the endless hallway scene and its practically identical to DL's ride from there. The only difference is at the end. At DL, after you pass by the hitchhikers in the mirror, you go sraight to unloading from your doombuggy. You exit up a moving walkway and see Little Leota at the end of the ride as you walk on your way out. At WDW however, after going past the hitchhiker mirrors, you go through a small crypt and Little Leota is standing above you. After seeing her, then you exit your doombuggy in the unloading area.
Whew, I hope that covered everything you wanted to know.
